Spyhopping orca, Juan de Fuca Strait   © Maris Sidenstecker I

In a new study nearly a year in the making, former SeaWorld trainers, Jeffrey Ventre, MD and John Jett, Ph.D, take the reader behind the scenes in marine parks. Read the report that will help to understand the tragic lives these large, intelligent animals lead to provide questionable "entertainment" for the public.  

   Drs. Ventre and Jett give specific observations and strong statistical calculations. This information demonstrates how life in an aquaria for an orca means a deprived and abbreviated life. Stress from many factors: lack of exercise, no members of their family pod, and poor health add to the stress and tension placed on the unlucky animals trapped in a life not of their making, but one created for them by humans to make money.  

   See their report, compiled for  the Orca Project, at Manuscript 

John S. Jett, Visiting Research Professor, Stetson University, [email protected]

Jeffrey M. Ventre, Physician, New Orleans, LA, USA

[email protected]

Whale Strandings on the Rise

New Zealand

A stranding of 82 pilot whales in New Zealand made news around the world as over a 100 volunteers came to the site in attempts to refloat the animals.The whales beached in the sands of Farewell Spit on the northern end of the South Island.The Department of Conservation and the volunteers saved all but 17 of the whales.  But days later, 65 of them stranded again and again many volunteers came to help. Eventually, all 65 re-stranded pilot whales were successfully rescued, thanks to the group effort.  

Ireland   

The bodies of 33 long-finned pilot whales were spotted by a ferry operator on uninhabited Rutland Island off Donegal's northwest coast. There were 19 females, 13 males and one male calf.

   Speculation on causes of death range from illness, a fierce storm and sonar testing in the area. The British Navy denied any activity in the areas where the whales had been in recent weeks amid speculation that sonar activity may have triggered the strandings. The Navy said its nearest ship was over 60 nautical miles away at the time.  

   Eight of the animals had well-marked dorsal fins, and could possibly be identified as the same group seen ten days earlier 155 miles away off Scotland's Outer Hebrides. They appeared to be in danger of stranding at that time. The whales in Scotland were being monitored on radar by British Divers Marine Life Rescue, but were lost after a storm began. If the pilot whales found on Rutland Island are the same whales in distress off the Scottish coast, it could provide an important clue about what killed them.  

   The whales are believed to have died before reaching shore. They were discovered buried under sand which could suggest that they came onshore during a storm and got stuck, speculated Darlene Ketten, Senior Scientist - Biology, Woods Hole Oceanic Institution in Massachusetts.